An Old Friend
by rmlohner
Summary: Matt's activities bring a surprising visitor to his door, who has a quite interesting proposal for him. Crossover with Agents of SHIELD.


The sounds and smells of the Hell's Kitchen nightlife produced an ever-changing potpourri that provided the usual backdrop to Matt Murdock's dinner. But not tonight, as he picked up someone very unusual walking down the hall. From the footsteps it seemed to be a human being, a bit on the small side, but throwing that assessment off was the heartbeat. It was impossibly fast, almost being a constant hum. If a human heart were to beat that fast, it would explode.

His mind turned to his encounters with Nobu, and that man's equally unnatural heartbeat. He never had found out what exactly the deal was with that, but suddenly the thought occurred to him that the ninja might have not been one of a kind, and a comrade of his was now seeking revenge. He picked up his sticks and took a defensive position to the side of the door as the footsteps reached it. To his surprise, the person knocked and said in a polite female voice, "Mr. Murdock? I would like to talk with you, please."

Matt considered asking why she was there, but then realized that inhuman heartbeat would defeat any attempts to tell if she was lying. In any case, he guessed she wasn't going to just go away, so he moved in front of the door and opened it, keeping his other hand on a stick out of sight.

The wind from the building's air conditioning bounced off his visitor's face, revealing a young, attractive woman with some Asian heritage, who now smiled at him. There was something he found oddly familiar about the face. His encounter with Madam Gao had taught him to not judge a book by its cover regarding people who could dish out an ass-kicking, but he sensed no hostility from this person. If she was on the level, it couldn't hurt to be polite. "Please, come in."

He stepped aside, still holding on to the stick just in case, until the woman said "You won't need that, by the way. Though I certainly understand why you'd be a little cautious, so no offense taken."

Matt was shocked enough to lay the stick on his table, and said, "So, who are you, exactly?"

"My name is Skye, but we've actually met before when I was called something different." He could hear the annoyance in her voice as she went on, "Mary Sue Poots."

The nagging familiarity snapped into focus as he remembered his one true friend at St. Agnes, the girl who kept being sent back over and over, with him always there to give her a shoulder to cry on. He smiled himself. "Of course! I'm so sorry I didn't keep in touch with you, but, well, the guy who took me out of that place wouldn't let me have that kind of connection, and by the time I left him I couldn't find you again."

Skye replied, "That's actually kind of why I'm here. I work for SHIELD."

Matt frowned. "The place that got taken over by a bunch of Nazis?"

Skye looked to the floor. "Yeah, that was less than a year after I joined. It was a really bad time. But we're more or less back on track now, and part of our new jobs are looking for people with special powers to put on our index. Nothing too bad, it just lets us keep an eye on them in case they need our help."

Matt had a sudden suspicion, but played dumb as he asked, "And what does that have to do with me?"

Skye gave a rather knowing smile. "This guy Daredevil who's fighting crime in Hell's Kitchen, he's gotten pretty popular in the media. Just a regular guy, no iron suit or super serum in sight, taking it upon himself to be another hero in the world. And at first that's all SHIELD thought, and put it aside." She leaned toward him a bit. "Except then we started looking into this group called the Hand. They're a bunch of ninjas who seem…well, not quite human."

Matt stifled his reaction as fast as he could, but from Skye's face she still caught something. "And it seems when this Daredevil was first getting started he had a run-in with them, over something called Black Sky. One of SHIELD's satellites picked up the fight, and even with only the bottom half of his face to go on, our software zeroed in on you."

Matt said nothing for the moment, wanting to hear the whole story before he responded. "Nothing happened at first, because they figured you were just faking being blind as part of your cover. But then I got wind of it, and I was able to assure them it was true. Which raises questions of how you're able to do the things you do. It's actually kind of like this other guy I know, who's on the index. So I volunteered to approach you, and give you a friendly face while we figure out what exactly the deal is. So, anything you want to tell me?"

Matt shrugged. "I don't suppose telling you you're completely wrong is an option?"

"Just one that won't work. Once SHIELD got on your trail, we were able to pick up plenty of other evidence."

"All right. You remember I told you what happened to my eyes back then. Well, whatever was in those barrels also increased my other senses. I didn't want to embarrass you, but I could always tell when you were lying from your heart speeding up. Speaking of, you probably already know this but your heart is doing something right now that no human heart should be doing."

Skye sighed. "Yes, it's kind of a long story, but I'm on that index myself. So, a better sense of hearing got you to fight like that?"

Matt laughed. "No, that's all me. My dad was a boxer, and then I got my own training once I left the orphanage. Where they come in handy is letting me know where people are, and what they're about to do to me. It helps if there's wind or rain around."

"And that's it?"

"Well, there's some other perks. I can feel ink on paper, though Braille is faster. Of course, if I could see that kind of stuff wouldn't be an issue in the first place. So what do you think? Do I go on this index of yours?"

"Well, I'll have to hand my report to the people who actually make those decisions, but if you've been completely accurate, my guess would be no. As far as I can tell, you're in the same category as people like Hawkeye or Black Widow. Impressive, but nothing really supernatural involved. Not like me." Matt sensed her body slumping what would be an imperceptible amount to the eye.

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Whatever happened to you, it's hard, huh?"

Skye shook her head. "At first, but I'm getting used to it. A day at a time, kind of thing."

Matt gave her an encouraging smile. "Well, maybe we can stay in touch. I'd be happy to talk whenever you need it."

Skye grinned again. "I'd really like that. You know, I never told you, but I had kind of crush on you back then."

"Oh, I knew. The heartbeat thing doesn't just sense lies."

Skye looked to the side. "Well, that's kind of embarrassing."

"It shouldn't be. I'm the one who was prying. I might not have had much of a choice about it, but still."

That got her looking at him again. "Anyway, I'll call you. You've been doing great work here. The Avengers didn't exactly treat this city well, but I'm glad someone like you is around to set it right. Maybe we could even team up some time."

"Any time you want. Just, you know, so long as it doesn't interfere too much with my job. Foggy and Karen would get on my back about that like you wouldn't believe."

"Don't be so sure I wouldn't. Well, it was great to see you again, but I really need to get back. We're pretty busy at the moment, like that's not a regular thing."

"Absolutely. See you around."

Skye walked out the door, and that strange heartbeat eventually left Matt's perception. The sounds of the city returned to normal, and he got back to making his dinner. And he hoped this was far from the last time his old friend would be in his life.


End file.
